May 19, 2005

5/19: Not So Long Ago, In A Blogosphere Far, Far From Ease ...

So, we were wrong in our prediction yesterday that the filibuster was likely to be the hottest story on the blogs this morning. Principally, the Blogometer managed to forget that the final installment in the new "Star Wars" trilogy opened last night. Meanwhile, nothing was resolved in the Senate yesterday, and few bloggers bothered to follow the debate on C-SPAN. Plus, news that CBS was canning the Wed. edition of "60 Minutes" impacted around the same time. And the Newsweek/Koran story continues to spin off new sub-controversies.

This is not to say that the Pres. Bush's jud. nominees and the Senate showdown were ignored -- the issue still loomed large. But mostly people want to talk about "Star Wars."

TRACKBACKS: Flush With Embarrassment

Where the blog swarm is headed, who's taking part, and what they're saying:

• A widely-cited column by Anne Applebaum of the Washington Post -- a corporate cousin of Newsweek -- is noteworthy for 2 reasons: 1) it offers a defense of Newsweek that even many conservative bloggers agree with, and 2) it claims a confirmed report that Gitmo detainees themselves put a Koran into a toilet at one point. The piece attracts 3 types of posts: those attracted to it for reasons 1) or 2), and those who simply link because it is there (as we've mentioned before, the Post is one of the newspapers most linked by the blogosphere left and right). They're all here: The Sideshow; OxBlog; Obsidian Wings; The Corner; Talking Points Memo; telescreen.org; Searching for a Better Way; The Ward Report; Sierra Faith.

  >> Conservative QandO concedes on 1): "I know many of you would be happier to have me flog the dead equine of Newsweek's hideous error, but the fact is the story was believable. I mean, we've actually killed several of these prisoners in captivity. What's a little Koran-flushing compared to that? ... You don't get to have it both ways. You don't get to defend torture, then complain because the Muslim crazies take it amiss. Or because our own press is too quick to believe that you mean what you say. That's just disingenuous." But not all are persuaded. Conservative Bill Rice writes: "I think her defense of Newsweek is not a defense at all, but rather reads as an attack against Sec. Defense Rumsfeld, the Bush Administration, and Pentagon to obfuscate the real culprit that caused almost a score of deaths, the MSM."

  >> Regarding 2), an Instapundit reader finds the "buried lede" about "confirmed" reports about the terrorists abusing the Koran themselves. Picking up on that post, JustOneMinute's Tom Maguire finds only an unconfirmed reports of same in statements by Gen. Richard Myers and Pentagon. Maguire writes, "my confidence in the WaPo is not at its peak just now, and since she does not even hint at a source for the news that this report is now confirmed, I would love to see some reassurance on this point."

• Jacques Steinberg's New York Times reports on the cancellation of the "60 Minutes" spinoff. Linking: TV Newser; Scared Monkeys; War and Piece; "Roger Ailes"; Little Green Footballs; Romenesko.

  >> Conservative Michelle Malkin: "Coincidentally enough, the feature story on tonight's show is titled, "Who's gonna get whacked?"

  >> Liberal Pandagon quotes Outside the Beltway as writing: "A news program simply can not exist without believability," and comments: "It also can't exist without viewers, and 60 Minutes II has been getting its ass kicked in the ratings since before the memo scandal ever occured."

JUDGES: Is There Anyone Who Still Feels Strongly About This The Same Way They Did Six Months Ago?

Right-leaning John Cole: "I am sitting here listening to Dick Durbin talk at length about Priscilla Owen on C-SPAN, reciting a long list of alleged sins, and I can't help but think the Democrats erred tactially on this. While I am in no way ceding that what Durbin says about Owens is true, it is impressive to hear someone talk for such a length of time about one person and not find any adjectives to describe the person but 'extreme' 'outside the mainstream.' If the Democrats had really filibustered, and sat and talked at length like Durbin is now, they probably would have been able to stop all of the nominees."

Tapped's Jeffrey Dubner, on the same: "[T]oday's beginning of the end makes for some seriously engaging C-SPAN. My first impression is that, as we've said before, Bill Frist is vastly overmatched. Just watching him try to announce his scheduling intentions and deal with clarifications and questions from Harry Reid, Ted Kennedy, and Pat Leahy, it was clear that they're more than up to the task of knocking him off course procedurally and substantively."

Ex-RIAA chair Hilary Rosen, at the Huffington Post: "I've talked to several senators in the last 24 hours. Several things are going on which have and haven't been reported ... a majority of the Democratic Caucus is ready to vote and lose. They are convinced that Frist will use a combination of presure and leverage to hold enough votes. And their theory goes, they can still fight on each individual judge and try and get moderate republicans to vote against an anti-choice or radical nominee. They believe that the Republicans will overreach if they win this one and that it will have a 'Schiavo'-type backlash -- times ten. And plans are to try and make sure that happens."

It's a Frist-fest at Daily Kos, where "Armando" discusses on the role of ex-Senate GOP aide Manuel Miranda, who controversially downloaded a controversial Dem memo on obstructing Bush's jud. nominee's in early '04: "Miranda's breaking the law has led to Frist's breaking the Senate rules. That is what the Republican Party has become in a nutshell." Later, Markos Moulitsas posts a testy exchange from early this a.m. between a DailyKos reader and Miranda himself.

Meanwhile at The Corner, National Review's Jonah Goldberg questions his own magazine's apparent change of mind regarding filibusters.

NEWSWEEK: The Isikoff Kiss-Off

Lefty David Corn: "I know, I know. Never try to give someone constructive advice. Yet I'm at it again. My pals at Media Matters have dumped on my friend Michael Isikoff. In my most recent "Capital Games" column," which is included in the post, "I attempted to broker a ceasefire and remind the MMers that the real enemy is the White House that is fully exploiting the Newsweek mess to undermine an already weak-kneed media."

National Review's Beltway Buzz on "scene over at Newsweek this week": "The publication has received a number of threats against staff members. Perhaps not surprisingly, a number of cameras and reporters are staked outside the Newsweek offices attempting to interview staff members as they enter and exit the building. Since offering his resignation, Michael Isikoff to the best of my knowledge has not returned to the Newsweek offices. He is 'lying low' for the time being and in a 'pretty bad place' regarding his feelings on the fallout from his reporting. I have also learned that the Newsweek staff is having multiple meetings to discuss the ramifications from this story, debating their use of anonymous sources and approach to coverage."

More: "I am also learning that the official reaction to Newsweek's error is different than the public face put on by the administration. There were 11 days between the publication of Isikoff's report and the first complaints from the Pentagon. In the meantime, Pentagon officials went back and forth on whether or not they had found evidence of mistreatment of the Koran. Though they disagreed with the toilet flushing assessment, there was much disagreement over whether or not an equivocal statement could be made that 'no such activity' had ever been witnessed."

BLOGGERS VS. BLOGGERS: The Mathematics Of Blogging

Andrew Sullivan defends his focus on allegations of torture at Gitmo and responds to Glenn Reynolds' sharply-worded critique (see 5/18 Blogometer): "My careful, fully documented criticisms of the U.S. treatment of detainees have been made not because I am anti-war or anti-military. They are because I am pro-war and pro-military. Does Glenn really believe for a second that idiotic tactics like brandishing fake menstrual blood or Stars of David at Muslim inmates are good interrogation practices? Does he think these excrescences have helped gain any useful intelligence in any way? The problem with these abuses is that they are evil and stupid; immoral and counter-productive, as so many experts in interrogation will testify."

Non-Fat Latte Liberal: "Instapundit is wrong to call this the press' Abu Ghraib. Unfortunately, though, Sullivan's rebuke leaves much to be desired." Noting the letter Sullivan quoted to establish Reynolds' under-reporting on Abu Ghraib, NFLL writes, "this is so hopelessly biased a 'random sample' it's laugh-my-ass-off-able. His categories of 1) admonishment 2) playing down and 3) discrediting as anti-troop are cherry picked, ill defined and apply only to Abu Ghraib. Further, number of posts is simply not a measure. ... Gauging the number of posts per subject is ridiculous, besides not taking into account length it can never account for tone or feeling. Network news word counts, the most common measure liberal/conservative bias, work because the network has control over exactly how long everyone talks and, by choosing their guests, even what is said. Blogs are such a radically different beast that word counts, while better than post counts, would be a similarly rough measure because link provide so much content and have varying relevance."

Reason's Matt Welch selectively quotes from "the last 36 hours in the life of the world's most strangely compelling celebrity blog" -- the Huffington Post -- at Hit and Run -- Kathy Ireland: "Can anyone tell me, are they going to bring back the draft? I have three sons -- all nearly teenagers -- and am terrified that they will. Why don't they make it that just Republican kids get called up?" Norman Mailer: "Who, indeed, was Isikoff's supposedly reliable Pentagon source? One's counter-espionage hackles rise. If you want to discredit a Dan Rather or a Newsweek crew, just feed them false information from a hitherto reliable source. You learn that in Intelligence 101A." Diane Keaton: "And the fact is, Los Angeles is a city."

In a later Hit and Run post, Nick Gillespie adds: "As Matt W suggests below, all you have to do is scan the site to realize that it reads like a red state parody of blue state jackassery, one that can only do damage to liberal causes worldwide."

BLOGGERS VS. THE MSM: The De-Linking Begins?

The New York Times' decision to start charging for access to its op-ed columnists seems to be having some immediate consequences. On 3/17, liberal Kevin Drum wrote at Political Animal: "This isn't the biggest deal in the world, but I think I'm going to stop linking to New York Times op-eds and columns starting now." On 3/18 he followed up with a lengthy post on the decline of newspapers, concluding: "The reality is that television isn't going away and classified ads won't be returning to newsprint anytime soon. Is there a way to make money on the web by cooperating with bloggers, instead of locking content away from them? I don't know. But newspapers and bloggers are symbiotic at this point, and both would do well to think harder about this."

STAR WARS: Nothing But Star Wars, If Only You Could Bar Wars, Let This One Stay ...

Right-leaning VodkaPundit's Will Collier gives the movie a thumbs-up (warning: spoilers) writes of the movie's political content, "the alleged Bush-bashing stuff has been completely overblown. Trust me on this one. If you get offended by this movie on political grounds, you probably also go into a frothing rage when the car in front of you turns on its left-turn signal. If it weren't for the dumb press coverage, you wouldn't even notice the supposed 'controversial' bits."

Huffington Post's Sandy Frank points out the unfortunate acronym derived from the title of Episode III.

Bloggers frequently organize to create "carnivals" such as long-running Carnival of the Vanities and Carnival of the Capitalists. Now Michelle Catalano hosts "Carnival of the Force." Among her links: "Darth Vader Superstar", what appears to be the final post at the recently popular Darth Side blog. Pro Cynic is putting together a "Nitpicker's Guide" to Star Wars, film-by-film, even for "Empire Strikes Back": "Not to be a prude for realism, but asteroids do not move by themselves in the way they are shown in The Empire Strikes Back. This was the first time in the Star Wars series that I had a problem with the realism." Courtney's Blog posts photos and tickets from a Modesto premier last weekend, including pictures of Mark Hamill and his autograph. There's even a "Star Wars" podcast.

Patrick Ruffini's GOP/"Star Wars" Photoshop contest is well-worth checking out.

Let's not forget that cruel phenomenon of a couple years back: the Star Wars Kid.

Topically off-topic, Dan Drezner gives a shout-out to two other decades-old geek obsessions -- "Star Trek" and "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," with links to other top bloggers writing on those subjects.

BuzzMachine, in a post titled "What a relief": "No more stories about dorky Star Wars losers without lives waiting in line for a damned movie."

IN THE STATES: Reed It And Weep ... Sure, That Pun Is Overused -- But Just Because It's Been Abused Elsewhere Shouldn't Rule It Out For Use When It's Especially Apt, Such As Here

Liberal Ed Kilgore, on emerging details about GOP operative/GA LG candidate Ralph Reed's involvement in the Jack Abramoff scandal: "After the original Abramoff scandal broke, with Ralph professing ignorance and innocence about his pivotal role, some politically knowledgeable people in Georgia figured he'd brazen it out, while others thought it would eventually derail his campaign. Now he's got a whole new set of allegations to deal with, exhibiting a clear pattern, and a guy as smart as Reed will be hard-pressed to explain why a man as dumb as he claims he was in these capers should be elected to statewide office."

Liberal Burnt Orange Report, on Sen. Mitch McConnell's (R-IN) speculation about Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) being promoted to the leadership: "These KBH rumors are getting a bit silly. What's next? Will she be offered a spot on the 2008 Presidential ticket if she does not run for governor?"

MISCELLANY: The Internet-Only Controversy Of The Week

Power Line first posted, has been following and adding reaction to graduation ceremony remarks by Pepsico pres. Indra Nooyi at Columbia Business School last weekend. Their 1st post from 3/17 is here. A lengthy compilation of responses can be found here. This a.m., the New York Sun carries an article about it.

Weekly Standard's Jon Last, at Galley Slaves: "Makes me proud to be a Coke drinker."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Ambrose Bierce, Resurrected

Garance Franke-Ruta at Tapped pronounces the following "Devil's Dictionary"-esque line, by Jonah Peretti of the Huffington Post, "an era-defining gem": "What I have learned from RatherGate, Newsweek, and the right wing bloggers: A blogger is a person who fact checks everyone except himself."

LEST WE FORGET: Guests Of Honor

&c. guest-blogger T.R. Frank: "Since every blog must weigh in on the Newsweek Koran story, I will do my part. Go to Google (it's here: www.google.com) and type in "Koran + toilet." If, after reading through the 99,900 results (most recent count), you feel the matter remains underdiscussed, send TNR Online a splenetic email written only in capital letters."

Per Rumsfeld's statement that "People need to be very careful about what they say ... people need to be careful about what they do," perpetual Wonkette guest-blogger Greg Beato offers a diagram who should watch what they say, who should watch what they do, those who can say anything, and those who can do anything.

Posted by at May 19, 2005 12:21 PM